"It's the MOST WONDERFUL Time of the Year" (year end giving..) ;)

Hello Friends and Family.

I'm sure you've had many email reminders from various organizations about year-end tax-deductible giving. I had planned a grand giving campaign, but then my son was born early, and ended up with a broken leg so I'm just now getting out my end of the year request. I trust God will bring in what is necessary to keep the ministry a float, but I would like to give you a brief update if you have the time.

We've added four members to our Staff this year who are working with the Deaf ministry of Cru - Hands of Fire. This is three more people than last year, and the first time to have staff members DEDICATED TO the needs of THE DEAF COMMUNITY. Praise the Lord for bringing workers to the ripe fields! :)

We also currently have THREE Winter Conferences that we are providing Interpreters. This is TWO more than last year, AND there are 5 more Deaf students in attendance than last year (last year there were 2 students, this year 7 students).

I could go into more statistics, but suffice it to say we are finally starting to REAP A HARVEST from all of the years I've put into building the foundations of this ministry. Your support thus far has enabled us to be where we are today, and I hope that you will continue to invest in the growth of the ministry.

As we come to the end of 2018, I am in need of $8,000 to stay on budget. If you are able, I would appreciate whatever generous amount you can give towards that number. Thanks for partnering with me so that the Deaf community can SEE the gospel in their heart language, and share their understanding with others.

Soli Deo Gloria
:D

*(to receive the tax-deduction, your gift needs to be processed by December 31st at 11:59pm)*

On Expecting the Unexpected.. and a lil' bitty hello! :)

It's December 19th - technically I should be 41 weeks pregnant today. And because of that my plans for November were as follows:

November 1st - return home from a month long trip to Honduras (visiting Azael's biological family).
November 11th - drive down to Tulsa, help with prep for Lauren's wedding.
November 19th - drive home to Iowa from Lauren's wedding.
November 21st - purchase a van from our friends in Nebraska (as our van died a week earlier).
November 26th through December 14th - PREP. ALL. THE. THINGS
- for Baby's arrival, and for Cru Winter Conference, and the house for Snow, and..
December 16th - have all the things done, and be ready for baby to come. It may seem "late" but since my first two kids came at 42.5 and 41.5 weeks, respectively, I felt like it made sense to anticipate a later delivery.

BUT here's what happened

November 1st - return home from a month long visit to Honduras = Check
November 11th - drive down to Tulsa, help with prep for Lauren's wedding = Check
November 19th - drive home to Iowa from Lauren's wedding = Check
November 21st - purchase a van from our friends in Nebraska = Check
November 24th - 2:34am WATER BREAKS (this has not happened with either of my other kids = surprising!) Midwife checks on me through out the day, labor stalls thrice, but she decides to stay overnight since there's a snowstorm coming which can induce labor. I'm glad she did, as active labor started at 9:30pm, and Baby BOY was born at 11:31pm.

He was 37.5 weeks, so considered 'term'. We didn't have any complications - we also didn't have a name, as Azael and I had scheduled a date for Sunday, the 25th to discuss possible names!
Lil' buddy just couldn't wait.. ;)

I was woefully unprepared, however, for his arrival. We had ordered the 'Birth Kit' for his planned home birth just 2 days prior (it arrived Monday afternoon, when he was 2 days old.. oops!). Since my water broke in the early morning, Azael did have time to run some errands that day to get the necessities. We also had some of the other supplies left over from Kaspien's birth, so it worked out fine. We got the birthing pool set up just in time - that was wonderful!

I was also mentally not prepared for the transition of 2 to 3 kids. I had a list of things I wanted to do before baby came and I felt like the 5 virgins who ran out of oil. The first week of Baby being on the outside was a mess! Fortunately Azael had paternity leave from work and was able to stay home - but it was crazy. At one week old Baby Boy still didn't have a name, so we put off announcing him to the world. We weren't intentionally hiding him, just lots of adjusting for our hearts and minds to welcome this little one so 'early' (in our minds).




My mom was able to come up by the second week, and that gave Azael and I time to discuss names. In the Bible, we see God give very deliberate names to people, and Azael and I feel that same way with our kids. We've been entrusted by our Abba with these small humans to raise, and we feel like naming them in a way that honors Him is part of that responsibility as well.


As always, His name has a story: click here to read it though, as this post is getting long! ;)






On Saturday, December 10th, at two weeks old, he finally had a name! We sent the picture out to family and close friends and planned to make the obligatory Facebook Official post later that night. However, an unfortunate accident that evening landed Emaias in the ER with a broken leg. It was pretty traumatic for all involved. He had to stay overnight in Children's Hospital. I have a new found appreciation of and understanding for NICU parents. Recovery is slow going. He's in a harness - the typical regiment for this age and injury - but diaper changes and any movement of his leg are still pretty painful. I was overly optimistic that he would nurse sooner than he could - and thus have been struggling to keep my milk supply up as well. I texted a friend saying, "You don't realize how hard it is not to hold your baby until you can't." Things take longer now - diaper changes require two of us - one to immobilize his leg, the other to change him. He was nursing well and had a great latch pre-accident, and now I'm having to pump and use bottles (not bad, just more work.) I can't baby-wear him, and we have to give sponge baths for the next month or so. Our days look a lil different than the typical newborn bonding/adjusting and I'm trying to make sure I'm engaging with him as often as I can. It's hard, but God is good in it, helping me to think outside the box for ways to accommodate Emaias and his injury.

We've thought back through all the 'what if's' and 'if only's' to know that it truly was an unintended accident. It doesn't make it easier, but it is what it is, and we look forward to him feeling better. It's hard to see such a lil baby in such intense pain but he is predicted to make a fully recovery.

Thus the reason that he's a little over 3 weeks old and we are just now getting this announcement out. Jaelyn and Kaspien love their brother and are eagerly awaiting when they can hold him again.

WELCOME EMAIAS!

What's in a name? (well, apparently a lot!)

When Emaias was born, I had just started reading the Bible again on a consistent basis (hello Motherhood!). During the first week after he was born names like Emmett, Everett, Ellis, and Elias kept coming to mind, but they just didn't fit him. I've been reading the pocket book of Luke. I kept feeling the Holy Spirit say, "Pick up your booklet and look through there.. his name is there.." I didn't want to, so I continued scouring baby name websites that first week, feeling the pressure of others to find him a name. And I continued to come up wanting.. When I finally yielded to the Holy Spirit and flipped open Luke, I came to the story Emmaus, and felt a sea of peace encompass my thoughts. The Road to Emmaus could be summed up as an unplanned event, an unexpected wait for a promised outcome and a journey to understanding that began in confusion - which has very much been our story with this little guy. We weren't necessarily planning on a third biological child so soon, but God's timing is what it is, and it's been good. (more on this about his middle name.)

However, I wasn't thrilled with the spelling of Emmaus.. Yes, Christians know how to say it, since most have heard the Bible story, but it's a German word and I didn't know if the general public say "e-may-us" or "e-mos", the latter of which I did not want. Even though I had a strong feeling it was his name, I couldn't commit. Azael also didn't like the way it flowed while fingerspelling it, so we set it aside.

Through out the pregnancy, I have been making strides towards wellness. In my post a while back, I mentioned that I have been sick for a while. With this pregnancy, I've had a Nurse-Midwife attending to me. Not that my previous midwives were unskilled, but the "nurse" in this one has been extra helpful in getting blood work done and suggesting supplements that have made huge improvements in my overall health. When you have been chronically ill for some time, it's almost hard to remember how bad you actually feel, as feeling bad is your 'new normal'. It has been amazing to see myself "coming back" to who I used to be - who I know myself to be - but who has been buried by illness. I have a new hope that I can and will recover from what mono did to my body 5 years ago. During the last few months our Adonai had been impressing on me the concept of "Amaia (Ah-my-uh)" - a Spanish name meaning "the end" or "resolution". For me it's meant a feeling of "arrival to a more restful destination" and "a journey towards holistic healing - physically, emotionally, mentally." However, the name Amaia is typically a girls name, since we had a boy I wasn't sure how it fit.

But if you read my post about Kaspien's name, you know we have a penchant for mashing two names together, so why stop now? ;)
Side Note: It's funny to me when people comment on the spelling of my kids names, as my name (simply Jenna) was misspelled often while growing up (Jena, Jennah, Gina, Jeana - all fine names, just not mine). My siblings -with quite common names - experienced the same (LindsEY or AY? JessIe? Lauren can be Lauryn or Loren..) I feel like the millennial age kids will have their names spelled wrong regardless, but I digress.
As I played with alternate spellings it came to me - why not change Emmaus to Emaias? ;) The "aia" from Amaia, the sound of e-may-us.. And there you have it. Emaias :)

As for his middle name we have to go back a ways in time. "Not what I wanted. But better." is a six word memoir a friend back in college penned for one of her classes and I always found it soul-challenging. It's been something that I couldn't say of God's plan for my life up to this point. I had things working out very differently when I was younger, and as His timeline didn't fit mine, I've unintentionally harbored resentment along the way. This third child of ours -while affectionately welcomed- was not expected. I have wanted to adopt for as long as I can remember, and we were moving in that direction for our 3rd child. This pregnancy has also not been fun, with morning sickness dragging on till the 7th month. And we sure weren't expecting this baby to come sooner than the end of December! But for as troublesome as the pregnancy has been, as I mentioned above about my mid-wife, it's brought healing and good things with it. I've had a clearer mind, and been a better mom. It's not the way I anticipated I would begin to feel better, but God's been good in the midst of it.

I kept coming up blank, however, while searching the baby name sites for a name that meant "not planned, but better than expected" (people who write the baby name websites want you to name your kid "gift from God", not "accident") ;)

In my searching I came across the name Toviah. It was under one of those "gift from God"/happy baby names list. It means "goodness of God" (literally: Tov = Good, Yah = Yahweh, TovYah.. Toviah) It was accompanied by Hebrew commentary explaining that God is classified in Hebrew as good - not better - because better implies comparison, and you can't compare God to anything else as He's in his own category. I can't say I have fully uncovered and released my resentment of God's plan being better than I my youthful desire, but if I change my friends memoir to "Not what I wanted. But good." I am finding rest in those words. I have more thoughts on this to share at a later day, but suffice it to say, even though this son of ours might not have been in our plans, Emaias has, is and will bring much GOOD in our lives.

Thus is the story behind Emaias Toviah BuPerry's name. May we remember His goodness in our journey to meeting our son.